Extract from the Wall Street Journal, USA
The West Virginia Board of Coal Mine Safety and Health will issue new proposed regulations intended to make the state's mines safer following the explosion this month at a Massey Energy Co. mine that killed 29 miners.
The board will propose three rules aimed The West Virginia Board of Coal Mine Safety and Health will issue new proposed regulations intended to make the state's mines safer following the explosion this month at a Massey Energy Co. mine that killed 29 miners.
The board will propose three rules aimed at improving maps, evacuations and drills related to mine fires, two rules adding requirements for mine rescue teams and a rule mandating that each mine office has a barometer to monitor air pressure changes that can affect methane concentrations inside mines. Another rule would require that methane monitors on machines be tested and calibrated every 15 days.
Methane, an explosive gas that occurs naturally in coal seams, was believed to have played a role in this month's fatal explosion.
Joel Watts, health and safety administrator for the board, said the rules will be officially proposed Thursday morning when he delivers a draft to West Virginia's secretary of state. That action will begin a 30-day public comment period, before the board will respond to those comments.
Mr. Watts declined to say if the new rules are a direct result of the April 5 accident at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in Mont coal, W.Va., or any preliminary findings by investigators. "I cannot say one way or the other because the investigation is still ongoing," he said.
Federal mine-safety officials have said that the massive explosion at the mine was likely caused by an accumulation of methane gas and could have been made more severe by coal dust. At one point during the rescue efforts, mine rescue teams had to be withdrawn from the mine when methane levels increased as a weather front approached and barometric pressure dropped.
The six-member board is made up of three industry representatives and three union representatives, all appointed by the West Virginia governor. The board is charged with making sure the state's coal mining health and safety regulations are effective. The board can write new rules, or alter or eliminate others.
Meanwhile, federal mine-safety regulators said Wednesday they began an "inspection blitz" over the weekend focusing on 57 underground coal mines with a history of problems involving ventilation and methane accumulation, among other things.
More than 275 Mine Safety and Health Administration coal-mine enforcement personnel were sent to the mines, more than half of which were located in West Virginia and Kentucky, the agency said. The agency said results of the inspections would be made public as they become available.
MSHA began the review after the explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine.
"The purpose of these inspections is to provide assurance that no imminent dangers, explosions, hazards or other serious health or safety conditions and practices are present at these mines," Joe Main, the head of MSHA, said in a statement. "Just last week, we pledged to the president that we will do whatever it takes to make sure another tragedy like the one that claimed 29 miners' lives at Upper Big Branch never happens again."
Of the 57 mines subject to the inspections, nine are owned by Massey. Five are owned by Consol Energy Inc. Another five are owned by Patriot Coal Corp., while three are owned by Peabody Energy Corp. and two by Alpha Natural Resources LLC. Most of the remaining mines are owned by privately held companies.
Editor: Mark Freeman (mark.freeman@industry.nsw.gov.au)
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